Found live mealworms in a freeze-dried jar.

[gerbilling]

As the title says, I just found a bunch of small live worms in a jar of freeze-dried ones. Brand is Fluker’s if anyone has tried that company, and I was actually happy with it because they seemed good and the boys like them. I’ve been storing them correctly, maybe it’s hot now that it’s almost summer, but they’re in a cool, dry place, as the box suggests.
Is this a normal thing? (I’m gonna assume not.)
I’m about to throw them away as I don’t want any bugs around, but I’m concerned if these worms weren’t produced/stored correctly before getting to me. Kinda grossed out tbh because I just found them. 🥶

Any better brands or source of proteins I can give my gerbils instead of these?
Thank you, you guys are great. I always come here for answers. 😅

[yeti218]

That’s a bit gross.

Did you buy them from an actual store or online? If online, I’d take a photo (or video, probably better) and email the company. They’ll probably refund you. You could also do this with an actual retail store, but I often don’t keep my physical receipts and also am less likely to chase a refund if I’ve actually got to go somewhere.

[gerbilling]

May 26, 2021 9:01:56 GMT -8 yeti218 said:

That’s a bit gross.

Did you buy them from an actual store or online? If online, I’d take a photo (or video, probably better) and email the company. They’ll probably refund you. You could also do this with an actual retail store, but I often don’t keep my physical receipts and also am less likely to chase a refund if I’ve actually got to go somewhere.

So yeah…this definitely shouldn’t happen, right?. 🥶 I did get them online and I’ll definitely check if they will refund me. I have a video (ew), so I’ll send that too.

[Scott]

I wonder if there were eggs that managed to survive dehydration and later hatched.

[gerbilling]

May 27, 2021 9:23:00 GMT -8 Scott said:

I wonder if there were eggs that managed to survive dehydration and later hatched.

My husband said that too. Maybe 👀. Ughhhh

[betty]

Yes, either they weren't freeze-dried correctly or there were freeze-resistant eggs in there (which would be very strange as they don't usually have eggs on their own bodies?)

Unless they were home grown by someone like me - adult mealworms are not usually in the same bin as adult beetles. There is a lot of seiving that goes on at every lifestage to make sure they are all the same size only for packaging (and to prevent, I would imagine, what just happened to you). But maybe with this batch for some reason it wasn't quality controlled?

It is usually very time and temperature controlled in a big set up. So having eggs on the worms at time of freezing would be a really random thing. Not impossible - but unlikely.

I have had opened freeze-dried worms in tubs in an ordinary garage that is darkish - but can get very warm in the summer - and nothing has ever hatched.

Freeze-drying usually involves dehydrating and freezing together - both things that, when done properly, only an egg could withstand?

Hmm. Very strange.

[Scott]

This source--specifically about freezing rather than freeze-drying--says "you can freeze containers of food to destroy living insects, but this will not usually kill their eggs." The source here says "for of the microbes that we’re worried about with raw meat, freezing or freeze-drying is NOT a food safety practice. It’s food preservation, not bacterial control." Again, though, microbes not insects.

I don't know if the analogy applies, but freeze-drying is the preferred way to package baking yeast--once the yeast rehydrates it's just fine.

One issue that I can think of is that I don't think the freezing component is done for long: cold temps and low pressure remove the water, but the freezing may not be for long enough to kill insect eggs that are otherwise cold-susceptible. 

[gerbilling]

May 30, 2021 14:46:27 GMT -8 Scott said:

This source--specifically about freezing rather than freeze-drying, says "you can freeze containers of food to destroy living insects, but this will not usually kill their eggs." The source here says "for of the microbes that we’re worried about with raw meat, freezing or freeze-drying is NOT a food safety practice. It’s food preservation, not bacterial control." Again, though, microbes not insects.

I don't know if the analogy applies, but freeze-drying is the preferred way to package baking yeast--once the yeast rehydrates it's just fine.

One issue that I can think of is that I don't think the freezing component is done for long: cold temps and low pressure remove the water, but the freezing may not be for long enough to kill insect eggs that are otherwise cold-susceptible. 

Yes, I guess somehow eggs must have survived, although as Betty said, I wasn't expecting there to be any considering the adults should be in a separate place...but still. I ended up throwing away the jar because (I don't want to have to handle live insects and) at this point, I wasn't sure if they had been stored/freeze-dried correctly, and it was my first time getting mealworms (wow great first time haha), so I'm not sure if they can carry anything harmful.

Again, not because they were alive really, I know a lot of people feed live mealworms to their gerbils, but just because they were supposed to be freeze-dried, and instead they were crawling around. 

I got them for my Maple because I'm trying to help him gain some weight, so I might try again (with a different brand). If anyone has any suggestions, please do let me know. (Sorry for the late reply btw. )